BOLTON Liberal Democrat campaigner Becky Forrest has slammed plans by UKIP to force mandatory annual medical checks for girls in "at-risk minority" groups to combat female genital mutilation.

She said: "This is one of the most horrendous and divisive polices that UKIP has ever come out with. Forcing young girls to undergo intrusive examinations is bordering on the abusive and I can't believe that anyone, even UKIP, could come out with such an awful idea.

"Here in Bolton we have excellent work being carried out by Greater Manchester Police, Bolton Safeguarding Children's Board and their partners in order to combat FGM. It's only through partnership working and education programmes that we can ever hope to combat the issue and I can only hope the people of Bolton roundly reject UKIP and their outrageous policies in the upcoming snap General Election."

Lynne Featherstone, who has campaigned on this issue and was Home Office Minister, said: "UKIP’s approach is horrifically heavy-handed and will alienate the very communities we are trying to reach out to. We should be training our teachers and other providers such as community experts to identify those at risk and teaching children themselves that FGM is wrong and to come forward if they fear for themselves or a friend.

“In coalition, we put a statutory duty on frontline workers to report concerns of FGM — we need them to have the confidence to do so, and this means better training."